Review - Learn To Play Bluegrass Banjo

A few weeks ago a friend loaned me the Learn To Play Bluegrass Banjo series of instructional DVD's taught and produced by John Lawless of Acutab Publications. This 3-DVD set of instructional DVD's is geared toward absolute beginners and newcomers to the 5-string banjo. Combined, the DVD's feature 4 hours of instructional material.

I won't go into full details of each DVD, but I'll highlight the content. The DVD's include such basics as tuning the banjo, reading tablature, fitting your banjo picks, proper left and right hand positioning, picking out basic melodies, right hand roll patterns, drills for memorizing roll patterns, using a metronome, adding roll patterns to simple melodies, left hand techniques such as hammer ons, pull-offs and slides and drills for coordinating movements of the left and right hands.

John Lawless answers a common question which is "Okay, I've got a banjo and I'm ready to learn, but where do I start?" John's experience of teaching banjo lessons in person over the years has allowed him to compile the information required and figure out the best way to deliver the message to beginning banjo players. He does a superb job with his instruction, emphasizing very important points in an effort to help you form good banjo picking habits from the very beginning.

I highly recommend this DVD series for beginning banjo players. Each DVD can be purchased separately for $30.00 but the entire set is available at a discount of all 3 for $59.85 on the Janet Davis Music web site. It is also available as a set on the Acutab Publications web site.